Myosin-Activating Agent Boosts Systolic Function, but Please Don’t Call it an “Inotrope”
www.theheart.org (read the full article)
September 26, 2008 |
Toronto, ON – Would that which is called an inotrope, by any other name, be safer in heart failure? A small dose-ranging study in patients with stable heart failure supports animal research suggesting that an obscure drug, a selective activator of cardiac myosin, can amplify contractile function without increasing myocardial oxygen demand [1]. Investigators hope that CK-1827452 (Cytokinetics), as it’s called for now, will offer the benefits of conventional inotropic agents without the effects that can ultimately harm patients taking them.
They also don’t want the myosin activator, still technically a positive inotropic agent, to carry the drug class’s stigma by being lumped with 
1-adrenergic agonists like dobutamine or phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitors like milrinone. Those drugs strengthen myocardial contractions and are used sparingly for short-term symptom relief in some high-risk populations, but at a high metabolic cost and increased arrhythmic and mortality risk.
